I wish I had a dollar for every time someone in North Carolina has asked me why the heck we would leave San Diego to move here. Well, as gorgeous as San Diego is, it wasn’t the place for us. Too expensive, too crowded, too loud, too MUCH. I never got comfortable there. I didn’t feel like I lived there, just that I was on a long working vacation. I don’t think San Diego wanted us there.

About midway through our unhappy year in San Diego, we did some research on places that we thought might suit us and North Carolina kept popping up on lists of best places to live. The funny thing is, Cary is someplace we considered before moving to San Diego, but I decided it sounded too boring (and that was before I moved here and found out some people call it Beigeville). We flew here to check out Chapel Hill. We got in at night and I will always remember that drive to our hotel on winding roads through dense thickets of trees. After being accustomed to the always-on city lights and noises, I felt like we were entering Twin Peaks territory.

We thought NC was gorgeous but decided that even though Chapel Hill was really pretty, it didn’t feel right for us. We checked out downtown Raleigh and that particular Sunday afternoon, things were absolutely dead. It felt like a ghost town. I know now that we just caught it at an off time, but in that moment, it was disheartening. We just barely drove through the edge of Cary before going back to our hotel and then flying back to California the next day, figuring we had to start all over again in searching for a new place to live.

A matter of weeks later, we were kicking ourselves for not bothering to check out Cary while we were here, because on paper, Cary seemed to fit the bill. So we flew back out here, this time to properly check out Cary. We’ve learned that somehow we never do things the easy way. We were only here a few days before we decided what the hell, let’s move here. So we scrambled to find an apartment before we had to fly back. A matter of months later we had arrived, cats in tow, this time to start the next chapter. We got our first meal from the Cook Out on Walnut Street near Crossroads, the first of many, many times we’d do so.

Now I’m a born-and-bred Texan but as most Southerners would agree, Texas isn’t quite Southern in the traditional sense. It’s a whole ‘nother entity. So the joys of sweet tea, hush puppies, collard greens, banana pudding, sweet potato pie, and NC style BBQ were all new to me. Since living here, a whole new world of culinary pleasures have been opened up to me. I have eaten with gusto and wondered where North Carolina has been all my life. And what better place to live than the Triangle, with a thriving food scene that just keeps getting more interesting. Cary is not a hotbed of excitement, it is not a funky, quirky, colorful place like the one I grew up in, and no one’s going to be making “Keep Cary Weird” bumper stickers any time soon. However, for all it’s dullness, Cary works as a home base for us and the joy of the Triangle is that there is always something interesting to do somewhere.

I know I’m just another transplant (and that I have a lot to learn about Southern food) but I feel like I belong here. You can never quite predict what will make a place feel like home, you just know it when you find it.

Sid is the man behind the memorable “Don’t Squeeze The Charmin” ads, among many others. Like Sid and other people in the article say, we love to eat meat, but we prefer to eat it in moderation, and to know that it has been raised conscientiously, and if at all possible, locally. Here’s the article.

We’re definitely looking forward to trying the Quinoa-Stuffed Zucchini Boat recipe mentioned in the article. For this week’s Meatless Monday, we’ll be having one of our classic go-to summer meals: Grilled Marinated Vegetable Sandwiches. The sandwiches are that much better when we add Rosemary and Garlic goat cheese from In The Red Farm and Dairy, which we always get at the State Farmer’s Market.

My recommendation - start early, and have a plan. If you’ve got four people, figure out what each person wants, and get in four lines right away. This is prime time for delicious, affordable food, so spend liberally and support local good eats!

The article cites “Ole Time Hot Dogs” in Cary, but after doing some digging, we figure they’re probably referring to Jim’s Old Time Hot Dogs, at 2000 Walnut Street, Cary NC, 27518 (919 554-9063). Those onions sound tasty!

The last time I ate at Lantern I ordered a Yo La Mango cocktail, which I loved. Unfortunately it’s a seasonal drink, so this time around I tried a Red Geisha, at the waiter’s suggestion. It was pretty, with muddled strawberries, but not all that tasty.

For appetizers, my husband started with the fiery eggplant salad, which he enjoyed. The eggplant had a nice heat to them.

I started with the special - lacquered pork belly. This was the star of the meal - do you see how that fat glistens? Each bite was incredibly rich - a thick layer of unctuous fat with a bottom layer of crispy pork. One of the top food experiences of my life. Accompanying the pork belly were pickled green tomatoes, which were delightfully tart and made for a unique pairing.

Unfortunately, after such a promising start, the meal went downhill from there. I ordered the seafood hot pot, which came with shrimp, halibut, scallops, squid, clams, and noodles in a lobster broth.

Sounds good, right? But all the seafood was horribly overcooked and there was such a strong fishy smell and taste that after a few bites, I couldn’t eat any more of it. The waiter apologized and took it back. I wasn’t terribly hungry anymore so I ordered the black mushroom and cabbage dumpling appetizer as a replacement. They were just your average dumplings, with a rather bland filling.

My husband ordered the tea and spice smoked chicken that we still remembered from a year and a half ago. Chicken is so often bland that when we first had this dish, we were thrilled and counted it as one of the best chicken dishes we’d ever had - tender meat with crispy skin and that subtle tea and spice flavor. So how was the chicken this time around? Dry. Overcooked and dry. My husband made the best of things and we would have felt really awkward sending both our dishes back, but in retrospect, we should have sent it back. There was just no denying that the meat was overcooked. The sides - pork and shrimp fried rice and green beans - were unremarkable.

I’m sure we must have hit Lantern on an off night, but it was a rather big disappointment on my birthday. We will certainly be back and hope for a better experience, the service and atmosphere are very good, the menu interesting, I love their use of local ingredients, and certain things we ordered were delicious.

Lantern
423 W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC
(919)969-8846

Dining for Women is a nonprofit organization founded in South Carolina with the simple and lovely idea of dinner giving circles – women get together for potluck meals and then donate the money they would have spent going out to eat to an organization selected by DFW that benefits women in need around the world. My friend Aimee sent me the link to DFW and pointed out that there wasn’t currently a Raleigh chapter. Well, now there is! If you’d like to participate, email me at marychoe (at) gmail dot com and join the Facebook group. Let’s eat together for a good cause!

I had dinner at Elaine’s recently with my husband to celebrate our anniversary. When we arrived, we were handed personalized menus that said Happy Anniversary. Elaine’s is housed in a small, casual space. The ambience is perfectly nice, but it’s not what I would consider the ultimate romantic dinner spot. I was seated facing a huge painting of a pineapple, which kind of amused me.

We were brought an amuse-bouche of curried sweet potato soup. I didn’t care for it, I couldn’t taste anything but the curry seasoning.

I cannot remember the name of my drink, but it was a cocktail with a blackberry puree and was excellent and my husband really enjoyed his basil mojito.

My husband started with the artisanal three cheese sampler with homemade crackers. It came with a Manchego, which was fine but not memorable, a locally-made Chevre, which was lovely, and a very potent blue cheese, which my husband loved. The crackers were light and airy.

The highlight of my meal was definitely my appetizer. I ordered the seared foie gras with a roasted half local peach, amaretti pit and vin santo sauce. Hard to go wrong with foie gras and this did not disappoint. The foie gras was incredibly rich and unctuous and the saltiness of it paired with the sweetness of the peach was delightful.

My husband had the cast iron skillet free-range chicken breast on “bubble and squeak” with fresh porcini and foie-gras porcini jus. The chicken was excellent, very tender with a wonderful sear. The jus was rich and lovely but also too salty and half the potatoes were undercooked. A little disappointing.

I had the grilled hoisin-sesame tenderloin with rice noodles, cashews, snow pea tips, and charred ginger broth. The beef was delicious, tender and perfectly cooked. I enjoyed the ginger broth but would really have liked more noodles and fewer snow pea tips.

For dessert we tried the lime curd semifreddo with a chocolate cake brownie. The semifreddo was tart and refreshing but the brownie was dry, dull, and just didn’t belong.

The service was good, but slow, which may have been because our server was also tending the bar. I certainly like a leisurely pace for a special dinner but two full hours is a little too much for me.

I would certainly come back to Elaine’s but our meal had its imperfections and I wasn’t as blown away as I would have liked, considering the prestige and the prices.

Soon I’ll be back in Chapel Hill for another special occasion dinner (at Lantern) and I feel a little guilty about skipping out of Raleigh again. So tell me, what are your favorite special-occasion restaurants in the Raleigh area?

Elaine’s on Franklin
454 W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC
(919) 960-2770

The food at Queen of Sheba was good overall, but this is one of those situations where a little issue can influence my evaluation of the meal, perhaps unfairly. Queen of Sheba is tucked away in a strip mall in Chapel Hill with some truly hideous beige siding. It’s a small, brightly lit place with a choice of sitting at a traditional basket or a table.

We started with the Sambussa, which were filled with lentils and onions, and came with a little dollop of Buticha, a chickpea dip that is very similar to hummus. The Sambussa were very tasty, albeit kind of tiny.

So here’s the issue I had - I had looked at the menu online before going and pretty much decided to get the Vegetarian Combination, which the menu says includes a choice of 5 of the vegetarian entrees. My husband decided to share this with me, so we got it for two. I was really looking forward to having the variety of entrees so I could try some lentils, the collard greens, the cabbage, the green beans, and split peas. When it came time to order, our server told us that the menu was wrong and the Vegetarian Combination came with two set entrees and three side salads. I was a bit disappointed that the menu was misleading but we figured the combo was still a good way to go.

When the combination came out, the two entrees were the Yemisir Kay Watt (red lentils in a spicy sauce) and the Kik Alich’a (yellow split peas) and the sides were Yetimatim (fresh tomato salad. Good and refreshing.), Yemisir Azefah (cold green lentil salad), and I’m guessing the Yetimatim Fittit, which was a rather bland tomato puree. Overall everything was flavorful and good, with the Yemisir Kay Watt being the standout, but it was a LOT of lentils to have in one meal and the split peas had a very similar texture. The Yetimatim, with the chunks of fresh tomato, was a nice change of pace, but overall the meal was a little monotonous. We broke down and ordered a side of cabbage, because that’s one of my favorite dishes at an Ethiopian restaurant and I am used to it being a side dish with everything.

Service was a little slow. The food was good but for me, the disappointment in not being able to choose the entrees for the combination (it could be fewer than five and still be good) and the fact that no one has corrected the menu (I’m not saying they have to go to the trouble and expense of reprinting menus, even a note taped to the menu would do the job) put a damper on the experience. I would come back but with somewhat lower expectations.

Queen of Sheba
1129 Weaver Dairy Rd
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919) 932-4986

I’ve been raring to eat at Duck and Dumpling for a while and finally got my chance during Restaurant Week. It’s small and chic, but not off-puttingly so.

I’d already decided to get the Asian Pear Martini when I found out that their special drink was an Asian Pear Mimosa. I mostly tasted the champagne, the pear flavor was very subtle, but I enjoyed it. My only complaint is the price ($10, the same price as their martinis).

We were brought an amuse-bouche, a ginger and carrot soup in those little soup spoons (sorry, no picture). It was delicious, insanely creamy, and a nice way to start the meal. Because I am woefully unhip, I love the rare occasions when I dine somewhere that serves an amuse-bouche (this doesn’t really happen say at Cookout!).

My friend Beth and I both started with the pork half-fried dumplings (which can be found on the regular menu) and my husband got the black bean rib tips (which aren’t on the regular menu). Both were good. The rib tips were very tender and the black bean sauce was delicious. The dumplings were absolutely stuffed with well-seasoned pork. Very tasty, but almost too meaty for me.

My husband and I both ordered the Poached Diver Scallops in a Honey-Ginger Glaze (the similar dish on the regular menu is $26, so this was a good deal although I’d be interested to see what the other scallop dish is accompanied with). They came in a fried wonton bowl on top of some greens. The scallops were fantastic. Perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious, sweet but not overly so. Best scallops I’ve had in a long time (although not too surprisingly, scallops don’t keep so well. We had a few left over that we ate the next day and they were not so great.) Beth got the chicken pad thai (also on regular menu) and though I only had one bite, it was tasty and certainly a cut above the usual pad thai.

For dessert I chose the green tea ice cream, Beth got the ginger ice cream, and my husband got the key lime pie. I would say the key lime pie was the winner. Both flavors of ice cream were very subtle, I would have liked a little more green tea flavor.

Service was good, with one exception. We had leftovers boxed for us and had to flag our server down to make sure he boxed the rice, which he originally was going to just take away. And the next day when we opened up the leftovers, the server (or someone in the kitchen) had decided to only pack up the scallops and not the greens that remained on the plates. I really dislike it when someone decides what is worth packing up for me, as far as I’m concerned, everything on the plate should go in the box. A minor irritation.

Chef David Mao stopped by our table to ask how the meal had been. I love little gestures like that, it sets a restaurant apart.

I really enjoyed my meal here and am eager to come back and try offerings from the regular menu.

The Duck and Dumpling
222 S. Blount St.
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 838-0085